carpe diem

carpe diem (kärˈpĕ dēˈĕm) [key], a descriptive term for literature that urges readers to live for the moment [from the Latin phrase "seize the day," used by Horace]. The theme, which was widely used in 16th- and 17th-century love poetry, is best exemplified by a familiar stanza from Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time":

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,Old time is still a-flying;And this same flower that smiles todayTomorrow will be dying.

Shakespeare's version of the theme takes the following form in Twelfth Night :

What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;Present mirth has present laughter; What's to come is still unsure.In delay there lies no plenty,Then come and kiss me sweet and twenty; Youth's a stuff will not endure.